New Delhi: The satellite to operate the
GPS-Aided Geo Augmented Navigation (GAGAN) system that will
offer seamless navigation to air traffic over the Indian Ocean
and the Indian airspace, has been positioned.

"The initial phase is now over. The satellite is now
in position," Airports Authority of India Chairman V P Agarwal
said here.

"We are now going through the certification stage of
the Satellite-Based Augmentation System (SBAS) and we will
have certification of the system by June 2013," he said at a
recent workshop on aviation safety organised by the Aviation
Watch journal.

Along with trials, GAGAN`s certification process is
being carried out with Directorate General of Civil Aviation
and other bodies, with the AAI and the Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO) developing it.

India would become the fourth nation in the world to adopt
this system which would enhance the accuracy and integrity of
GPS signals to meet precision approach requirements in the
civil aviation, official sources said.

Others using similar technologies are the US, the
European Union and Japan.

Once operational, GAGAN would provide augmented
information for satellite navigation to aircraft flying over
Indian airspace and routes over high seas with high level of
accuracy, integrity and continuity during the entire flight
operations - from take-off to landing, they said.

The GAGAN transmitter is to be integrated with the
Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) to provide an
SBAS over Indian airspace.

The project is currently in the final operational
phase and is scheduled to be completed by June 2013.

The Wide Area Augmentation System codes for radio
frequencies were obtained from the US Air Force and US
Department of Defence on November 2001 and March 2005. US
defence contractor Raytheon, which is implementing the Auto
Track-III system at the IGI airport, is also involved.

The system would use eight reference stations located
in Delhi, Guwahati, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Thiruvananthapuram,
Bangalore, Jammu and Port Blair, and a master control centre
at Bangalore to provide navigation and air traffic management
over the entire Indian airspace and Indian Ocean area -- from
Southeast Asia to the African shores.

The Flight Management System based on GAGAN would help
the operators to save time and money by managing climb,
descent and engine performance profiles of aircraft.

It would also help improve airport and airspace access
in all-weather conditions and the ability to meet
environmental and obstacle clearance constraints.

GAGAN would also enhance reliability and reduce delays
by defining more precise terminal area procedures that feature
parallel routes and environmentally optimised airspace
corridors.

After its final operational phase completion, the
estimated cost of GAGAN would be over Rs 780 crore.

It will be compatible with other SBAS like WAAS of the
US, the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service and
the Multi-functional Satellite Augmentation System of Japan,
providing seamless air navigation service across regional
boundaries.